memory_betafandomcom-20200223-history
House of Duras
The House of Duras was one of the Klingon Great Houses that was active over several centuries, and influenced events both within and outside the Klingon Empire. History 22nd century This House was considered among the oldest and most powerful within the Klingon Empire, with alliances that stretched back across centuries. At one point, it was claimed that even Kahless paid homage to the House of Duras. ( ) In the year 2153, one of the earliest members of this House was Duras, son of Toral who had been disgraced in battle against Captain Jonathan Archer of the United Earth Starfleet starship . The Chancellor of the High Council of the Klingon Empire gave an ultimatum to Duras: capture Archer, who was a criminal in the eyes of the Empire, or suffer dishonor and removal of his position. Duras attempted to do so but was destroyed by his enemy while in the Delphic Expanse. ( ) A Klingon claiming to be a member of the House of Duras once participated in a poker game with the human con artist Berlinghoff Rasmussen during the 22nd century. Rasmussen later recounted this fact during The First Annual Deep Space Nine Poker Tournament. ( ) 23rd century During the 23rd century, a Klingon named Duras was a member of the Klingon High Council. In 2265, Duras participated in a meeting of the High Council following the mysterious destruction of the . During this meeting Chancellor Sturka decided not to attack Starbase Vanguard in the Taurus Reach, and directed Duras to investigate the reasons behind the Federation's expansion into the Reach. ( }}) 24th century The House of Duras possessed a blood feud against the House of Huraga, a feud that Mogh, Son of Worf participated in against the House of Duras. ( ) In 2346, Ja'rod of the House of Duras was stationed at Khitomer and had been in secret contact with the Romulans. Using this position, he lowered the defensive screens of the base which resulted in the Khitomer Massacre with Ja'rod himself dying in the attack. With the death of Ja'rod, his son, Duras, son of Ja'rod, became the leader of the Great House. When the details of the attack were finally uncovered, they would be hidden by the High Council of the Klingon Empire due to the influence of the House of Duras and that if publicly revealed, the information would split the Klingon Empire in half and create another dangerous civil war. Instead, the warrior Mogh, son of Worf was blamed for the attack and, as such, his House was disgraced. His son, Worf, son of Mogh would suffer from discommendation for the "crimes" of his father. ( ) Duras attempted to gain the leadership of the High Council by becoming chancellor. To that end, sometime around 2367 Duras began secretly poisoning Chancellor K'mpec. Chancellor K'mpec finally died in 2367. Before his death, K'mpec appointed Jean-Luc Picard as Arbiter of Succession who would judge to be the new Chancellor. With K'mpec's death, Duras and Gowron, son of M'Rel became the two main contenders for the office. During the ''sonchi'' ceremony, Duras had his guard detonate an explosive device in an attempt to kill Gowron. The explosion failed to kill Gowron, and in the subsequent investigation the crew of the uncovered the Romulan connection to Duras. When K'Ehleyr conducted her own investigation and released that Duras was working with the Romulans, Duras killed her. As a matter of revenge, Worf fought and killed Duras in personal combat. ( }}) While Duras's death had diminished the power of the House, there were others who attempted to ensure that a member of the House of Duras would become the new Chancellor. This came in the form of the Sisters of Duras; Lursa and B'Etor who could not serve on the High Council due to Klingon law. However, they had found the son of Duras who was known as Toral, son of Duras who was a young child. Using the child's position as the son of Duras, Lursa and B'Etor challenged Gowron's position. They would even attempt to influence the decision of the Arbiter of Succession, Jean-Luc Picard. Regardless of their attempts, Gowron was selected as the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. Such an action split the High Council with half joining the House of Duras and resulted in a brief civil war. ( ) The Klingon Civil War The United Federation of Planets attempted to passively aid the loyalist Klingon forces under the command of Gowron by preventing "outside" - namely Romulan - forces from influencing Klingon politics which were suspected of aiding the rebel forces. This was determined to be true as the Romulan Star Empire had been providing support to the rebel forces in order to gain a leader of the Klingon Empire that would support the Romulans against the Federation. When it was revealed that the Duras were being supported by the Romulans, many Klingons stopped supporting the House of Duras. For the remaining forces, the lack of Romulan support severely diminished their capability. This allowed the loyalist forces to crush the rebellion and storm the Duras base of operations. Lursa and B'Etor managed to escape onto their personal ship but left Toral behind. Toral was captured by the sons of Mogh - Worf and Kurn. Toral would have been executed but was spared by Worf. ( ) Aftermath of the Civil War Becoming renegades, Lursa and B'Etor spent the next years on the run, and worked to build up money to rebuild their forces. They arrived on Deep Space 9 and attempted to gain some funds to rebuild their forces through illegal means such as selling weaponry to Bajoran terrorists like the Kohn-Ma. When they arrived at Deep Space Nine, Security Chief Odo had considered locking them up and calling the Klingons to take them. However, since they had not committed any crimes in Bajoran space, Commander Benjamin Sisko refused to authorize their arrest. ( }}) The sisters later returned to Deep Space 9 to participate in The First Annual Deep Space Nine Poker Tournament. The two attempted to introduce a compromised deck into play, hoping to win the poker tournament by cheating - thus securing funds to help rebuild their forces. The plan failed when Quark realized that the compromised deck was in play, and opened a new deck and took over dealing the cards to the remaining players. The sisters quickly lost all their winnings and had to leave the game. ( ) Several months later, an attempted assassination on Worf and his son was suspected to have been done so by the Sisters of Duras, however, this was not the case. It was learned that Lursa was pregnant with a child who may have served as a new heir to the House of Duras. The two sisters later purchased some used mining equipment, and proceeded to mine magnesite ore from a Pakled planet in the Kalla system. Stealing the ore from the Pakleds, who were unaware that it even existed, the two sisters sold the ore to a Yridian. While the sale was taking place, the Enterprise-D arrived and confronted the sisters about their mining activities and the attempted assassination of Worf. ( ) Following this incident, the House of Duras maintained a secret spaceport at Halee II which served as a base for their covert operations. ( ) The Sisters would attempt to hatch a new plan on securing their place within the Klingon Empire once more by forming an "alliance" with the scientist Doctor Tolian Soran who had developed technology that could make stars go supernova. In order to perfect the technology, Soran required a new experimental substance known as trilithium. This compound had been secretly developed by the Romulans who attacked Soran's observatory while looking for their stolen "property". They would later take Soran to Veridian III as part of his attempt to join with the Nexus but used this opportunity to implant a surveillance device in Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge's VISOR as they had briefly captured him. Using the information they found, they were able to use their D12 class bird-of-prey to deal serious damage to the Enterprise-D, but were themselves destroyed during the attack, which ended their reign of the House of Duras. ( ) In the aftermath of the death of the Sisters of Duras, the baby of the late B'Etor was kept by the remnants of the House of Duras. They, however, faced danger from a rival House who intended to capture the child and take the Duras family holdings as their own. This would have been the case had it not been for the intervention of Worf who managed to save the child and return the baby to the servants of the House of Duras - this was in the hope that the act would bring about an end to the ancient feud between Mogh and Duras. ( ) While the leaders of the House of Duras were killed, there was another who attempted to restore the Great House. This was Toral, who attempted to regain by finding the Sword of Kahless whose whereabouts had been uncovered by the ''Dahar'' Master Kor, along with his colleagues - namely Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax and Lieutenant Commander Worf of Deep Space 9. ( ) Resurgence Despite his failure in getting the Sword of Kahless, Toral was able to unite the House of Duras and attempt a coup of the Klingon government which was being led by the Chancellor Martok. He would pursue several personal vendettas, one of which was against Commander Worf but these would fail. The key to the House of Duras's power at this time was again secret Romulan support, however, when Toral was defeated and chased from the Empire. He later retreated to a star system where he intended to get aid from the Romulans. However, Admiral Sela made a deal with the Borg who destroyed Toral's House of Duras forces. Upon completion of the task, Sela turned on her Borg allies and destroyed them as well. ( ) Though this seemed to be the end of the House of Duras, the son of Lursa was still alive and served as an heir to the family. In order to shelter him, he was placed within the House of Torg who were allies of his family line and became known as Ja'rod, son of Torg where he was watched over the Torg who served as the head of the household. Ja'rod was left at the Ogat colony which was attacked by the Gorn in 2392 during the war between the two races. The heir to the House of Duras managed to survive the attack and later joined the Klingon Defense Force. ( ) In the following years, his ship was attacked by an unknown tripedal species with three members of the species boarding his ship. These aliens intended to kill Ja'rod and masquerade as him in the Klingon Empire. Despite them boarding his ship, Ja'rod managed to slay two of the creatures and defeat the third which he interrogated. He later learnt that the aliens were called the Undine who were engaging in a quadrant wide infiltration of various powers in order to promote conflict amongst them. It was in fact them who had infiltrated the Gorn government and instigated the war between the Klingon Empire and the Gorn Hegemony. ( ) :In Star Trek Online a new restored House of Duras is set to have arisen in the years after the Reman Uprising who attempted to expand the influence of the Klingon Empire. Alternate timeline In an alternate timeline in which Doctor Noonien Soong's dream of widespread acceptance of artificial life in the form of Soong-type androids was realised, the House of Duras and its supporters won the Klingon Civil War. This led to the reformation of the Klingon-Romulan Alliance, which worked against the United Federation of Planets. ( |Brave New World}}) Appendices Connections External link * Category:Qo'noS Category:Groups Category:Klingon Great Houses